A Chance Encounter
by reynabeth
Summary: Sometimes, all it takes is a chance encounter to make or break your world, to turn it light or dark, to make it bright or plain. [Caleo Soulmates AU - Oneshot]


**I know, I know, clichéd soulmates AU. But this is my own take on it, promise. (I came up with the idea in the shower)**

 _-A Chance Encounter-_

Leo awoke slowly, like a diver swimming to the surface. He blinked several times in the bright gray morning light streaming through his window. With a groan, he rolled out of bed and staggered into the bathroom, where he splashed some water on his face. Then he gazed into the mirror.

Dark-ish gray skin, black hair, dark grey eyes.

He sighed.

Then his thoughts turned to his friend, Jason. Jason had recently discovered his soulmate, his one and only, and _would not stop going on_ about it. He kept telling Leo what it was like - a bright flash, dizziness, then when you open your eyes - _boom._ You could see in .

Leo had to tell Jason to shut up at least twenty times each day.

He pulled on his clothes - black jeans,dark gray T-shirt, black sneakers - then headed out onto the street.

It was a sunny spring morning, and the light grey light flooded his black-and-white surroundings. The cars, in various shades of black, white and gray, zoomed down the road, and the pedestrians jostled each other as they walked to the shops.

In the windows of various stores, displays in all different shades of gray advertised products like: YOU NEED A NEW PHONE! BUY ONE HERE NOW! Or, SPECIAL OFFER: DISCOUNT ON CARIBBEAN CRUISE! Or, strangest of all, SHOCKER! CAT EATS MAN! GET NEWS TODAY!

Leo shook his head as he wandered down the street, unsure of where exactly he was going.

Sometimes he did this - just set off with no certain destination, and see where he ended up. Often he would walk for miles, then get lost and have to ask for directions back home.

Suddenly he saw a girl, standing beside a sign. She was tracing her finger over a route and muttering to herself.

'So, I go left, then right - no, I take the first right - but which way is quicker? Would it work if I took the second left? Argh!'

She looked perfectly average from where Leo was standing, but something about her struck him as different.

As he watched, the girl stamped her foot in frustration. He decided to go help her out.

'You take the second right, then left, then the third right and you should be there.'

The girl moved her finger over the map. 'How did you know where I was going?' she asked, absorbed in following Leo's directions on the map.

'I have my ways. Also, I heard you say it just then.'

'Well, thanks.' She turned to face him, and they both gasped.

A huge white flash surrounded them, and Leo screwed his eyes closed and pressed his hands to his forehead as a wave of dizziness overtook him - and then it was over.

He opened his eyes and cried out in shock and relief.

The sky was a brilliant blue, peppered by little white clouds, and the yellow sunlight shone down on all the multicoloured people. All the cars were different and - as he glanced down at his hands - _so was he._ His skin was a tanned, brown-ish colour, his wild curly hair was black and his T-shirt was dark blue. He glanced up at the girl, and his mouth fell open in amazement.

Her hair was long and brown, it fell in mesmerising waves down her back. Her eyes were a beautiful brown, and she wore blue jeans and a red blouse. Leo decided that, out of all of the colours he had seen today, red was his favourite.

'I guess you're the one then.' she stammered.

'Yeah...' he agreed, shell shocked. 'So, what's your name?'

'Calypso,' answered the girl, 'Calypso Atlas.'

Leo thought it was a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. 'Well, Miss Atlas, my name is Leo Valdez and I can assure you that I am _very_ pleased to meet you.' He held out a hand and she shook it. 'Now, may I escort you to your destination? We wouldn't want you to get lost along the way.'

They wandered up the street.

'Isn't it weird,' Calypso said, 'that if I had been better at map reading, we wouldn't have met?'

'And if I hadn't known where you were going, I wouldn't have been able to help you, so we wouldn't have met.' Leo agreed.

'I guess it's a chance encounter...' she said.

Leo liked the sound of that. 'A chance encounter.' He agreed.

And they continued up the colourful street into the sunshine.

 **But it's not over yet, ladies and gentleman, there's more.**

 ***Twenty years later***

All that morning, Leo had had a horrible ominous feeling of premonition. Something told him that today just wasn't _right._

'Callie, sunshine, are you sure you'll be alright?' he asked for the umpteenth time. Calypso was just on the way out of the door.

'Yes, Leo, it's not far away and you can always call me!'

Leo and Calypso ran an auto-repair shop, Leo fixed the cars whilst Calypso helped with the fiddly bits and provided entertainment. However, today she was taking time off to go visit a friend, and Leo was really worried about her.

'Okay...' he sighed, 'love you!' He planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

'Love you too!' she called after him as he headed out the door.

 _Stop being stupid!_ he told himself. _She'll be fine._

Leo hummed along to the radio as he fiddled with the engine on the car he was currently fixing.

 _'Da da da da da da da da, da da da da da da da da...'_

Realising he had barely moved for ages, he got up to stretch his legs and get a drink. As he stood up, however, the whole world tilted. A wave of dizziness rushed over him, and he grabbed the car for support. Distantly, he heard something fall to the floor, but it sounded like he was underwater. His vision went black for a second - and then it stopped.

Cautiously, he opened one eye.

Everything was black and white.

 _No no no no no nonononono this can't be happening no no no no Calypso no no no no!_

You see, when you lost your soulmate, you lost the ability to see in colour. The world literally was a bleak, colourless landscape.

She was gone.

'...Calypso...' he gasped, true agony splitting his heart in two.

The phone rang, its shrill sound echoing around the otherwise silent garage.

Leo didn't pick up.

He couldn't pick up.

Eventually, the noise became too much and he picked up the phone, ready to shout at whoever it was - only to be greeted by the police.

Afterwards, it seemed like a haze. He couldn't remember the details of the conversation, just that it was something about a car accident. Three words kept repeating in his head:

 _Calypso is gone._

 _Calypso is gone._

 _Calypso. Is. Gone!_

Because she was gone. His sunshine, the light of his life was... _dead_.

And, without his light, how would he ever be able to see in anything other than black and white?

 **Meh. I'm not really happy with it, tbh, but review anyway.**

 **Please? Thanks for reading, anyway.**


End file.
